Many years ago I read about a simple divination system that anyone could learn. It used a TV set. You would turn the TV to a channel that didn’t have a signal. The screen was a jumble of dots (technically called “visual noise”) and you would hear a “shhhhhhhhhhh” sound (usually called “white noise” but it was technically “pink noise”).

What I would do is turn up the sound to blot out all other sound (some companies sell devices that make this sound and sell them to people who work in noisy environments) and scoot up close to the TV so that the screen filled my field of vision. In this position it was very easy to sink into a trance state that was perfect for divination. I would either focus on a question before starting or just leave myself open to anything that might come to me. Considering that the first computer I owned was built from a kit before Microsoft and IBM came out with the first PC, this was a perfect system for a gadget-loving technophile like myself.

But TV evolved. It became digital and most people now use cable or satellite to get channels. You don’t get video or aural noise any more, but you do get 150 or more channels (most with repeats or useless garbage).

Teledivination

Lately, I’ve been working on a replacement for my old system that I call Teledivination. It’s based on an old system called bibliomancy. The idea behind bibliomancy is simple:

Ask a question

Open a book (typically a large book such as the Bible) to any page

Point to any spot on either the left or right page at random

Accept the words under your finger as something meaningful in relation to your question

Interpret the words much as you’d interpret the symbolic meaning of a Tarot card

Teledivination is a modern version of this. It works this way:

Ask a question

Turn on the TV andÂ mute the sound using a remote control

Use the channel up/down switch to change the channels

Close your eyes so you don’t know which channels are appearing on the TV

When you feel the time is right, stop changing the channels

When you feel it’s the right time, unmute the sound

Accept the first words spoken as a message to you

Interpret the words as you might interpret a Tarot card

That’s it. It’s simple, direct, and easy.

An Example

To illustrate how easy it is, I just did it this morning. Today is Thursday, and my question was, “What will happen this weekend?” Â I turned on the TV, muted the sound, and ran through the channels with my eyes closed. I stopped (it turned out to be on a program called “American Chopper”) and when I unmuted the sound I heard, “You’re great. What do you think, Vince?”

My interpretation begins with the idea that I’ll have a great weekend. But the question being asked of “Vince” had me puzzled. Then I looked up the name in an etymological dictionary. “Vince,” short for Vincent, comes from a Latin word that means “conquers” or “overcomes.” So I take this to mean that I will overcome some problems this weekend.

Sounds good to me!

So now that you know how easy this is to do, give it a try and tell people what you think.